Mount Prospect village manager gets pay hike, $30,000 bonus

Mount Prospect Village Manager Michael Cassady will receive a 6% raise and $30,000 performance bonus under a new employment agreement approved by village trustees Tuesday.

The deal increases Cassady’s base compensation from $275,000 to $293,000. Cassady started as village manager in 2015.

“This village has flourished under his leadership, his experience, his skill,” Mayor Paul Hoefert said, calling the progress under Cassady “exponential.”

He cited accomplishments including the annexation of the former United Airlines headquarters, which set up plans for a $2.5 billion data center campus on the site. The development, Hoefert said, will bring more $3 million in utility taxes annually to Mount Prospect.

Trustee Augie Filippone was the only board member who opposed the pay hike. While acknowledging progress in the village’s downtown, he noted legal settlements that “highlight some systemic concerns about operations,” including a $350,000 settlement with a fire department lieutenant who sued the village.

Filippone also expressed unhappiness with the village’s handling of the dissolution of the Elk Grove Rural Fire Protection District, believing Mount Prospect’s fire department eventually will be responsible for serving all of the district’s former jurisdiction.